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G.I. Combat Vol 1 267
** ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: ** Antagonists: * German Officer * Unnamed German Infantry soldiers Other Characters: * Unnamed American Armored Division Captain * French Maquis * Slim Stryker * Arch Asher Locations: * Items: * TNT * Remote-control detonator Vehicles: * | StoryTitle2 = Lost Eagle | Synopsis2 = In the summer of 1937, as a Ryan Monoplane drones near a remote island in the Pacific, exploding shells catapult upwards at the winged intruder. At the controls of the small plane is world-famous pilot Sandy Michaels. She has come under fire, and sends out a distress signal desperately hoping for help. Her calls remain unheard as her plane is disabled by a nearby shell, sending it spiraling down towards Howland Island where the Japanese have established a secret airfield. The Japanese pulls her from the burning wreck and, recognizing her immediately, take her prisoner. The Major, a Japanese officer in charge of the force on Howland Island, threatens her if she doesn't answer his questions, but she tells him that she has nothing to say. She was flying across the Pacific, an event that was reported in every major newspaper, and her compass went out of order. She tells him that every American radio station was tracking her course and that if she is killed, the Japanese will have to face the armed might of America. The Major knows she is bluffing, and orders his men to form a firing squad and kill her as a spy. Who was Sandy Michaels? Only a short time before her flight, at a secret meeting with a top U.S. military officer in Washington, D.C., she had been given her mission - to fly recon for the U.S. during her tour around the world and report on Japanese activities. She had been informed, however, that should she be caught, the U.S. can't acknowledge that she was on a military mission and could be shot as a spy. She knew the risks, but accepted the mission. Now she stands before a Japanese firing squad. Years pass, and the disappearance of Sandy Michaels is shrouded with mystery. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and the world goes to war. Then, in August 1945, the Enola Gay takes off on its fateful mission to end the war. No one would know that Sandy Michaels survived the firing squad. Her steadfast silence had given her a reprieve. Her identity still a secret, she had been flown to Japan and placed in custody within the city of Hiroshima. Her last thoughts were of the bombers overhead. From the Enola Gay hurtles a bomb which explodes more blinding than a thousand suns. For years afterwards, the fate of another celebrated woman pilot haunts the world. Could this have been the fate of Amelia Earhart as well? | Editor2_1 = Murray Boltinoff | Writer2_1 = Robert Kanigher | Penciler2_1 = Vic Catan | Inker2_1 = | Colourist2_1 = Jerry Serpe | Letterer2_1 = | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * Sandy Michaels Antagonists: * Unnamed Japanese Major Other Characters: * Unnamed American Colonel * Amelia Earhart Locations: * Howland Island, * * , Items: * Uranium Gun-type Atomic bomb Vehicles: * Ryan Monoplane * The Enola Gay | StoryTitle3 = Charlie Never Dies | Synopsis3 = The Bravos - a squad in Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, known as Bravo 2-7 - battling for survival and sanity in the madhouse war in Vietnam. Lance Corporal Kiley wakes up from a haunting nightmare where he and the others in Charlie are massacred by the Viet Cong. The next morning, Kiley leads his squad out on a recon patrol near Bien Hoa. They scour the paddy for hidden Viet Cong, and are surprised by mortarful of TNT sent their way. The squad open fires into the rice paddy blindly, but the enemy is gone. Having drawn a blank, the squad returns back to camp. There, they are met by Sergeant Bullett, who informs them that he's been chosen by the T.O. as their new non-comm. Kiley at first feels rejected, but Bullett selects him as his number two man. But the best news was yet to come, and Bullett informs the squad that they have earned a two-day pass to Saigon. After Bullett leaves, the squad has a meeting to discuss their new leader, and while the others want to complain to the brass Kiley tells them to just forget it and accept the new chain of command. The city of Saigon is a crazy carnival, celebrating the end of the world 24 hours a day. The men of Bravo 2-7 are in their best dress uniforms taking in the sights and sounds (and woman) of the city. Corporal Kiley freaks out when a Vietnamese photographer approaches him to take a picture, one of the images he had seen in his nightmare. Kiley decks the Photographer across the jaw, but then realizes the mistake he made. He pays the Vietnamese man off, and rushes to join the others before anything else can happen. The squad enter a local bar, where they find themselves in the presence of a celebrity - Benny Berger, the famous comedian! Sgt. Bullett spots a bad actor outside the bar, and leaps towards Berger just in time as a grenade is thrown inside and explodes. Bullett saves Berger's life, and Berger wants to repay him. Bullett tells the comedian to send him an autographed photo for his kid Joey back home. Four days later, Bravo 2-7 is lifted off from base in choppers, loaded down with rifles, grenades, ammo, claymore mines, and the full kit of survival gear and rations. Their destination is a small area of land known as Hamburger Hill, which as changed hands six times during the war. The men take the time on the chopper to relax before the fight, and Pilsudski and Gomez start a game of cards while Luney takes a nap. As they near Hamburger Hill, the VC answer their approach with hot FLAK. The chopper drops near the ground and Bravo 2-7 jump off and head for the slope of the hill. They open fire onto the hill, before they can see the enemy, but are answered with silence. The Viet Cong are gone. Sgt. Bullett orders the men to lay the claymores. For two nights Bravo2-7 waits on alert, but the enemy is a no-show. On the third day a chopper arrives to unload supplies and one passenger - Benny Berger. Berger is there to give a show and boost the morale, but Bullett refuses to allow him near his squad and orders him back to the chopper. Then, incoming fire surprises them and a shell destroys the chopper before they can reach it. Bullet orders Berger to keep his head down. The claymores they had laid go off in the distance, alerting the squad to the approach of the enemy. The Viet Cong rush the hill with everything they have, and Bravo 2-7 get their first chance to see the face of their enemy. The battle is hard, but eventually the Viet Cong break off the fight and fall back. Bravo 2-7 held the high ground and came out with no casualties... except one. Benny Berger had been hit in the chest. As Berger breathes his last breath, Sgt. Bullett finds within the comedian's jacket the photo signed to his kid. Written on it is "Joey... You've got the greatest dad in the world. I ought to know! Your pal, Benny Berger". Sgt. Bullett cries. | Editor3_1 = Murray Boltinoff | Writer3_1 = Robert Kanigher | Penciler3_1 = Angel Trinidad, Jr. | Inker3_1 = | Colourist3_1 = Jerry Serpe | Letterer3_1 = Esphidy Mahilum | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * The Bravos ** Sergeant Bullett ** Lance Corporal Kiley ** Private Levy ** Private Luney ** Private Wallis ** Private Somers ** Private Douglas ** Private Pilsudski ** Private Gomez Supporting Characters: * Benny Berger Antagonists: * Viet Cong soldiers Other Characters: * Vietnamese women * Vietnamese photographer Locations: * Bien Hoa, * Saigon, Items: * M18 Claymore mines Vehicles: * American Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters | StoryTitle4 = Death Waits 1,000 Years! | Synopsis4 = Sergeant Kiley is having his fortune told in an old part of a town within the southern boot of Italy, he is told by the ancient fortune-teller that his death waits for him in an ancient town on the street of the Griffin. But before he is able to ask any questions, the building is riddled with the rain of bullets from an enemy halftrack. The fortune-teller is killed, and Sgt. Kiley ducks down behind the table just in time. He throws a grenade, destroying the half track. After the smoke settles down, Kiley's Lieutenant shows up to congratulate him on his kill. Kiley picks up the last card the fortune-teller had showed him and asks the Lieutenant what the animal on the front is. He tells him it's a Griffin - a mythological beast with the head and wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion. Kiley's never heard of one, but tucks the card into his pouch as a souvenir. As Sgt. Kiley and his outfit slowly fight their way up the Italian boot towards Rome, he is haunted by the apparition of the Griffin, turning even his briefest of sleep into a frightening nightmare. One day, while holed up inside a shelled-out building during a very foggy afternoon, he wanders if this will be the day that he is killed. He tries to read the street sign, but can't through the fog. He spots an approaching squad of German soldiers and guns them down. Every street and town begins to look alike to Sgt. Kiley on their march, and every day he waits for death to claim him. Finally, one sunny day he is awoken by the Lieutenant, who tells him that HQ has a plan to get them out of Italy in a hurry. He gives each man a satchel loaded with explosives. Avoiding enemy patrols and traveling only at night, the squad finally reach the mountainous region well behind German lines and a river held back by a dam. Their mission is to blow up the dam, sending an avalanche of water to flood the German forces and stop their advance. They set the changes, but are spotted by a German plane overhead. The plane dives, sending a rainstorm of bullets into the Americans. Everyone is killed except Sgt. Kiley, who stays behind to finish the job. The dam is destroyed. The German plane swoops down for another attack. Sgt. Kiley fires wildly at the plane, hitting its gas tank and sending it spiraling in a blaze of fire. However, the ground underneath Kiley gives away, and the Sergeant is thrown over the edge of the cliff and down into the draining river below. As Kiley falls to his death, he thinks back to the fortune-teller and her prediction. The fortune-teller had been correct, as hidden for centuries underneath the flooded river lies an ancient Roman town until released by the Sergeant, revealing the street of the Griffin! | Editor4_1 = Murray Boltinoff | Writer4_1 = Robert Kanigher | Penciler4_1 = Keith Giffen | Inker4_1 = | Colourist4_1 = Jerry Serpe | Letterer4_1 = Gaspar Saladino | Appearing4 = Featured Characters: * Sergeant Kiley Supporting Characters: * American Lieutenant Antagonists: * Unnamed German soldiers Other Characters: * Calabrian Fortune Teller Locations: * Items: * Tarot cards Vehicles: * Sonderkraftfahrzeug German Half Track * Junkers Ju 87 Sturzkampfflugzeug ground-attack aircraft | Notes = * Robert Kanigher is credited as Jan Laurie for the second story "Lost Eagle". | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = }}